Sanford, North Carolina

Langley: Tonight’s Harnett fracking event too one-sided

Want to go? A presentation on natural gas drilling by Jim Womack of the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission (hosted by Sen. Ronald Rabin) is set for 7 p.m. today at Angier Elementary School in Harnett County. A large crowd is expected.

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The Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 12th State Senate district is concerned about tonight’s workshop on fracking hosted by his opponent, Republican Sen. Ronald Rabin, in Harnett County.

The event — which will be led by Lee County Republican Commissioner and North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission Chairman Jim Womack — begins at 7 p.m. today at Angier Elementary School’s gymnasium (it was originally to be held at Angier Depot, but the expected large crowd required a larger venue). Womack — a vocal advocate for natural gas drilling in North Carolina — will be the lone speaker, aside from an introduction by Rabin. The Republican-heavy presentation is concerning to Joe Langley, Rabin’s opponent in the November general election.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to is concerned that Jim Womack is the speaker,” Langley told The Rant on Wednesday. “Even though I do believe his speech will be very politically one-sided, I’m sure there will be a large group present that will be aware of what they are attempting to do.”

Rabin’s legislative aide Gabe Snyder told the Dunn Daily Record this week that some environmental groups may attend, and several others have made indirect threats toward Rabin, prompting the senator to ask the North Carolina General Assembly Police to monitor the event, as well as the Angier Police Department. Rabin told the newspaper Womack’s presentation will be “purely informational, to show people where we are and where we are going. … It was never intended to be a show-and-tell event.”

Questions from those on hand will be accepted, but only in written form, another concern of Langley, who worries about transparency more than anything. The Daily Record reports Rabin’s campaign received a $500 donation from Piedmont Natural Gas this election year and other donations from the North Carolina Propane Gas Association.

Langley told The Rant that while Harnett County currently isn’t home to any potential drilling sites, the county will be directly affected by drilling in Lee County.

“One of the proposed fracking locations is near the airport in Lee County, less than four miles from the Cape Fear River,” he said. “The Cape Fear supplies 24 percent of the population’s water in North Carolina. The Harnett Regional water system in Lillington [downriver from Lee County] supplies water to five counties in the surrounding area.”

Basically, Rabin and Womack know that Lee County residents are informed about and opposed to fracking, so they take their show on the road, to a place which will not feel the immediate effect. They are hoping that ignorance will translate into political support. But, i suspect this will backfire. The method for accepting questions is obviously intended to vet questions Womack doesn’t answer. And, they seem to be operating on an assumption – that there really is public support, somewhere out there, for their crazy ideas and agenda. I believe this assumption is false. Time will tell, of course, but I think Womack and Rabin’s days of influence in NC are numbered.

LOL , you suspected right Jay . I was there and I feel Very comfortable saying “It definitely back fired for them ! There were many of us there to give out Real information about fracking as a Big part of their audience slowly started coming out of the show shortly after Jim started his sales pitch for fracking .
Many came out Mad and eager to find out how to stop fracking .
Joe Langley did a fabulous thing showing up , had his double sided VOTE FOR JOE sign on the back of his truck parked at the front door and He was welcomed by most of the folks there too!
As far as Rabin feeling threatened enough to waste taxpayers $$ on double security … 2 of those officers left their cars running for at least 3 hours while there… windows fogged from the AC running too. I think the Only threat was the Truth coming out and even his security did NOT stop that !
If anything I believe this dog and pony show will bring More folks from Angier to the Aug 22nd meeting here in Sanford .

Where can I go to stand against Fracking. I hear those people talk about it bringing jobs. Don’t they know they are exploited so a few can get rich? Their “job” answer is a short term solution in exchange for a long term problem.